All the Interesting Quotes From Celtics Practice, Including Tired Lungs and Bad Habits

The Boston Celtics hit the practice floor again on Thursday, ahead of an early-season rematch with the Chicago Bulls. But even though the game is at home again, it won’t look the same.

That's because Friday night’s game is the first Emirate’s Cup, in-season tournament game. So the Celtics will be playing on one of those modified courts.

The Boston Celtics Emirates Cup Floor | NBA

(pause for complaints and swearing)

“I think it's great. You get sort of a playoff feel in the middle of the season, or I guess at the start of the season,” Sam Hauser said. “You saw last year that the Knicks and the Spurs played in the NBA Cup championship and those two met in the finals. So obviously it means something and we’ve got to be better with getting into the bracket rounds and then advancing after that.”

This also serves as a reminder that things like point differential matter now, so if the Celtics go up 30 again, don’t be shocked to see the regulars trying to push it to 40 or 50.

“Yeah, it's weird. You’ve got to win by certain amounts,” Hauser said. “I know the last couple years we've been up big on a team and you have to play until literally the final buzzer goes off. So that's a little weird, but you’ve got to do what you got to do to get in.”

So we’ll see what tomorrow night brings. But until then, here are the most interesting things said at Celtics practice on Thursday.

Tired Legs, Tired Lungs

Joe Mazzulla acknowledged that Boston’s defense was subpar against the Nets:

“The communication. Yeah, communication is the first key. Being able to talk when you're tired. It’s easy to talk when you're not tired. Talk when you're tired is the first step. And then it's the same thing on the offensive end, are the reads in the game. There’s just different kind of reads. We had a mishap where we changed coverages on a free throw, and then we don't execute the coverage, and Michael Porter gets the three off. So it's the communication of those coverages, and it's just executing under duress. But it’s the same thing on the offensive end. Just reading the team's offense, communicating the position that we're in and what the read calls for at that particular moment.”

These are the moments Mazzulla is looking for. He’s talked about the team playing under duress for the entire preseason, so now he got to see the guys experience it and still win.

Let’s be clear here, everyone in the building wanted Tuesday to look like Monday night’s smashing of the Bulls. It didn’t, but that's okay. These early-season games are informative. Coaches are all giving their teams more leeway just to see who has what and what everyone needs to work on.

From a fan perspective, it’s all about winning the game and being perfect. From a coaching perspective, it’s about putting as much pressure on these guys as possible early on to determine how to tweak things moving forward.

When cars are built, they're tested under extreme conditions to see how they respond. Then the mechanics figure out how to fix whatever issues come up, and after that, the car hits the market. This is the testing phase for the Celtics. Hopefully there aren’t too many issues.

Neemias Queta Need to Break Bad Habits

Mazzulla was asked about Queta’s propensity for bad fouls, especially the one that opened the door for Brooklyn to tie the game Tuesday night:

“I mean, I think it's just like any other habit. I think it's just having him realize the importance to two things: his importance when he's on the floor for us, so those put (him) in a position to where he can't be on the floor for us, and then just know that those are bonus fouls, and it doesn't put us in the best position to win. So he's understanding those things, but I think it's from a place of empowerment of, like, ‘Hey, look, we need you on the floor, so you can't do this.’ Also, we need to put ourselves in the best position to win every single possession, so it's important that we don't do it.”

This is part of the duress. Queta has a propensity for bad fouls, which cost him in the playoffs and it’s showing up again now.

The foul at the end of regulation Tuesday was bad. The good thing is that it wasn’t too costly, so he can feel like he got a freebie after the Celtics snatched the win.

But Queta needs to fix that, and he needs to fix it fast. Mitchell Robinsson won’t be on the floor in those situations, so Queta will be the closer more often than not. He’s a critical piece to Boston’s success, so these kinds of preventable mistakes need to be cleaned up.

Jordan Walsh is Okay With Disrespect

Walsh was asked about how he was being defended on his three-pointers.

“Nah, still still getting short closeouts and ignored. So that's perfect. I can take my time on every jump shot.”

That's a fun quote, but he did acknowledge that being ignored to whatever degree he is does actually put some pressure on his teammates.

“For sure, for sure. I definitely don't want to like — like it's a good and bad thing. You know, it's bad because they can load up and play help. But it's a good thing because now every shot I get is wide open. So I take my time to shoot it. There's no rush. So it's a good and bad thing.”

He hit a couple from the corners against Brooklyn, which brings him up to 50% on the season. He needs to keep it somewhere between 45-50% from the corners if he’s going to keep his job.

Sam Hauser sees Jordan Walsh’s improvement

“I got to shoot with him today and obviously you guys have seen it already. He’s starting for us, giving really good minutes. He defends his tail off every night and (is) definitely an improved shooter and improved offensive player as well. So it's fun to see young guys develop and kind of find their niche and figure out how to get on the floor and stay on the floor.”

Special Visitors

Mike Conley getting some shooting in with a few patients from Boston Children's Hospital who are here for practice today pic.twitter.com/lnJtt4eMjQ
— John Karalis 🇬🇷 (@John_Karalis) October 29, 2026

Mike Conley and the Celtics spent some time with patients from Boston Children’s Hospital today. The kids will be at the game tomorrow as well as part of a Boston Children’s Hospital Night, which is part of a $200 million donation to the hospital by the Celtics and the Celtics ownership group.

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